Hulking defenceman announced as first overall pick

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After weeks of speculation the Sarnia Sting officially announced defenceman Jakob Chychrun as their 1st overall pick in the 2014 OHL Priority Selection on Friday morning.

Sting head scout Nick Sinclair and vice president of hockey operations Bill Abercrombie brought in Paralympic bronze medalist Tyler McGregor to announce the choice of Chychrun at a press conference at the Hive Bar and Grill.

Chychrun, who just turned 16 on March 31, was the consensus number one overall selection after posting 16 goals and 27 assists for the Toronto Jr. Canadiens minor midget “AAA” team this past season.

The 6'2, 195-pound rear guard was a “man amongst boys” according to Abercrombie, and captained the Jr. Canadiens to a Greater Toronto Hockey League title this year.

The selection was the third time in eight years that the Sting have made the first overall pick, and Sinclair said that the team couldn't be happier to take Chychrun.

“This guy on the ice is the type of player that is a modern age prototypical defenceman. When you watch the Canadian men's Olympic team with (defence) that have size, speed, strength and can do it all, that's what Jakob can do,” he said.

While it may be lofty to compare a 16-year-old defenceman to players like Drew Doughty and Duncan Keith, Abercrombie said that Chychrun's skillset is above what they expected for a player his age.

“He's very mature obviously, you can tell by the size of him, and watching him play it's amazing he has that skillset and that size for this young of age. We're very excited.”

In the weeks leading up to the announcement there was speculation and concern that Chychrun wouldn't report to the Sting due to the questions surrounding the state of the organization.

Those are questions that Chychrun said never crossed his mind.

“There's always going to be rumours with social media these days,” he said.

“I didn't make any decisions without knowing what the rink was like, what the team was like. All teams were in play and once I visited here it was a really good feeling.”

In fact, the 16-year-old likened it to the process his sister Taylor recently went through in picking a university.

“My sister was a senior last year in high school so on her search for colleges she visited different universities and you kind of just get this gut feeling,” he said.

“I got the same gut feeling (in Sarnia) that I didn't feel at any other rink. It's just this feeling you get when you walk in, I can't really describe it, but it's just in my gut.”

And now that the announcement of the 1st overall pick is over, Chychrun is looking ahead to what he can bring to the table for the Sting come August's training camp, saying he's going to do whatever it takes to help the Sting.

“Whether it's offence, defence, powerplay, penalty kill; whatever I can (do) to help this team win. I'm hoping that it'll be an easy transition and I know the coaches are going to help me out a lot.”

The transition to major junior hockey is one that is often harder on young defencemen than forwards, but Abercrombie doesn't expect it to take too long.

“Well we don't like to put any pressure on him, but seeing how driven this kid is I know in his mind he'll want to contribute after the first month of the season, that will be his goal,” he said.

“The sky is the limit for him and I know he's expecting to be a big part of our team right off the get-go.”

Chychrun said that come the fall, Sting fans can expect to see a responsible defensive player that likes to make sure he's involved in all areas of the ice.

“I focus on all three zones ... I like to be a shutdown defenceman but also a puck moving defenceman and try to generate offence while shutting the door in the defensive zone.”

But before the Sting can get to the 2014-2015 season, the rest of the OHL Priority Selection must take place.

Chychrun's selection will be made to the rest of the league at 9 a.m. on Saturday morning during the league wide draft conference call.

Sarnia holds 16 picks in the 2014 draft, with their next pick at 38th overall.